OCT. 7 IRAN MEETING: GERMANY COMMITTED TO

S E C R E T BERLIN 001244

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/30/2019
TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM UNSC PREL IR ETTC GM
SUBJECT: OCT. 7 IRAN MEETING: GERMANY COMMITTED TO
SANCTIONS, BUT PREFERS UNSC

REF: STATE 100765

Classified By: DCM Greg Delawie for reasons 1.4 b/d.


1. (S) SUMMARY. The German Chancellery's Deputy National
Security Advisor equivalent, Nikel, stressed to the DCM, in
an October 1 meeting, that Chancellor Merkel remained
committed to pursuing serious sanctions should Iran not
cooperate on the nuclear dossier. However, both Nikel and MFA
officials emphasized, in separate meetings, Germany's
preference for seeing action on Iran in the UNSC vice the EU
and indicated that according to their calculations Russia
might be less of an obstacle than previously thought. MFA
Iran/Iraq/Gulf DAS Tarraf noted that Germany may be unable to
"make concrete decisions" on specific measures during the
October 7 meeting in Washington, because more time would be
needed to pre-clear such measures. An MFA official also told
PolOff that the results of the October 1 P5 1 meeting with
Iran had prompted Germany to start thinking about other
creative confidence-building measures to be used in the
ongoing negotiations with Iran. END SUMMARY.

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Chancellor is Committed to Sanctions
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2. (C) The DCM discussed Iran with Chancellery Foreign and
Security Policy and Global Affairs Director Nikel on October

1. Nikel reported that the September 25 Merkel-Medvedev
bi-lat had been productive on Iran. The Chancellor came away
from the meeting more positive on Russia than she had been in
two years. Nikel said Germany no longer thought Russia would
veto a UNSCR, if it turned out that Iran refused to cooperate
on the nuclear dossier. Nikel also stressed that Germany
remained committed to pursuing serious sanctions should Iran
not cooperate. He emphasized the importance of pursuing
sanctions within the UNSC framework if possible. If UNSC
action proves untenable, he stressed the importance of
pulling Asian countries into the "like-minded" group.
Although Chancellor Merkel's new coalition partner, the Free
Democratic Party (FDP),is closer to business interests and
could be tougher to persuade on sanctions, Nikel said he
doesn't think it will be a problem for the Chancellor to
convince them. He repeated that "the Chancellor is committed
to sanctions."

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Oct. 7: Germany Ready to Discuss, but not Ready to Decide
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3. (S) German MFA officials told PolOff September 30 and
October 1 that Germany was concerned that while they realize
the necessity of "parallel tracks" they didn't want to see
the October 7 meeting of "likeminded" countries in any way
damage chances of success in the UNSC should Iran not live up
to its obligations. MFA Arms Control/ IAEA Deputy Director
Hinrichsen suggested the U.S. might consider letting Russia
and China know the meeting would be happening -) since "they
will find out anyway" -- and it would be better if they found
out in a transparent manner. If Iran should fail to live up
to its end of the bargain, Germany remains prepared to
support sanctions in the UNSC. If a UNSCR weren't possible,
Germany would be prepared to push in the EU and with
likeminded countries, but they seek assurances that the U.S.
also sees the UNSC as &Plan A.8


4. (S) MFA Iran/Iraq/Gulf DAS Tarraf also noted that Germany
may be unable to "make concrete decisions" on specific
measures during the October 7 meeting in Washington, because
they would need more time to pre-clear such measures through
the somewhat cumbersome German government (which is also at
the moment somewhat distracted by coalition negotiations.)
Germany had been working off of the UK September 20 paper and
had gotten approval at the sub-ministerial level for a list
of measures based on that paper -- though Tarraf wouldn't
elaborate on what they were. After the meeting an Iran Desk
officer told PolOff that "in general" the German paper "was
not too far away" from the U.S. paper. Tarraf took great
pains to explain that Germany does not want to be perceived
as slow-rolling this process, they are "with us in spirit"
but just can't get their bureaucracy moving this fast. Tarraf
noted that he wished we had shared the paper earlier.

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German Thinking on "Creative Confidence Building Measures"
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5. (S) Hinrichsen told poloff October 2 that the results of
the October 1 P5 1 meeting with Iran had prompted Germany to

start thinking about other creative confidence-building
measures that that the Iranians might be interested in. He
said the MFA was working on some suggestions that they hoped
to have ready before the October 7 restricted breakfast
meeting. One idea he mentioned involved converting
enrichment related machinery for use in "isotope separation"
(used in the manufacturing of microchips) which he explained
could then be sold on the market, provide a monetary
incentive. However, he cautioned that they hadn't fully
prepared the idea and that German experts were still being
consulted.
Murphy